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MORE HIRING MISTAKES

Many times organizations believe that hiring is a function of HR or a function of the hiring manager. Unfortunately, that doesn’t take into account that the rest of the team has to work with and live with the individual you hire. They also know the job best. They should be involved in the hiring process. Their input is invaluable – find a way to involve as many of the employees in the hiring process as possible.

Mistake No. 7:Taking the Bodies

Too many times we want to fill a slot. We will rush through an interview. We won’t even interview strongly and in many cases we will believe that most anybody could do this job. We feel there are not enough people in the market place who can handle this job, so we sacrifice or give in, and don’t hold ourselves to the needed criteria. When we don’t use criteria for the job there’s no reason for a hiring process. We are looking to fill in with a body. The problem is that those types of people and that kind of hiring process leads to a lot of turnover and to a never ending cycle of continuously filling roles and positions. It decreases morale, uses up resources and over time kills an organization.

Mistake No. 8:Looking for Superman or Wonder Woman

Certain organizations and managers look for people that are impossible to find in the market place. We are never going to find the perfect human being who has every competency that we could ever think of, use or need. It’s important that we really know what is essential to success on the job. When we know what is essential to success on the job we have a strong measuring stick for what we are looking for. When we know what we are looking for and we’re clear on it we are able to find those people. We tend to look for superman or wonder woman because we’re looking for a fix rather than what we need. We need to know what we don’t need in order to know what we do need and that’s what defining the job means.

Mistake No. 9:Treating Candidates like Candidates

First rule in hiring – it’s a 2-way street. They are making a decision and we’re making a decision. We need to treat them with respect, not only as a candidate, but as if they are the marketing department. We want them to walk away with a received the position or did not receive the position and have a relationship with this person that helps them and helps us. We want them to give referrals to other candidates because they had such a great experience in the process. So, we need to make sure that this is not a test. We need to make sure that this is not a one way street. We want to make sure they are treated like a human being and that our approach demonstrates respect for every candidate that walks in our door.

Mistake No. 10:Viewing On Boarding as Separate from Hiring and Selection

Think about it. Most of us when interviewing candidates use tests and a variety of other measures during the interview and selection process. If we have great, strong interviews and use good assessments, then we will have enough information from what we have collected during our hiring process that we could actually work with them from almost day one, at least within the first week, on what a strong development plan would be for that individual. Imagine being able to sit down with the person and say, here’s what we saw in your interview process, here’s why we hired you and why we think you will be successful, and here are some things that we think you may need to work on. What are your thoughts? Then, together, collaboratively, put together a development plan for the next six months to a year. That’s powerful. That creates an interest in wanting to stay, confidence in that employee and that employee having confidence in the organization and it will create discretionary effort and a shorter learning curve. Use the information you collected in the hiring process to help the employee get off to a good, strong start.